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Tim BontempsESPN
PHILADELPHIA — After 10 years in Toronto as an assistant and a head coach, Nick Nurse stated he will “take a number of weeks to see the place I am at” on the conclusion of what he known as “a tough season from a lot of standpoints.”
“Early on, had some fairly severe accidents with some key guys,” Nurse stated earlier than his Raptors took on the Philadelphia 76ers at Wells Fargo Heart. “I believed we type of weathered that for some time … after which yeah, I believe the commerce deadline stuff, I do not know if there was a thousand rumors, 999 of them had been about us, it appeared like. In order that was in all probability as attention-grabbing because it will get.”
Nurse, when requested the place is head is at, stated he’s primarily centered on two issues.
“Initially, I believe when this season will get finished, we’ll consider all the things, and even personally, I am gonna take a number of weeks to see the place I am at, you understand?” Nurse stated. “Such as you stated, the place my head’s at. And simply see how the connection with the group is and all the things. It has been 10 years for me now, which is a reasonably good run. I do not know, over these 10 years we obtained to be up there in variety of wins with anyone within the league. I do not know even know the place that’s, however we have had a number of huge seasons.
“After which, proper now, my head is to make this as lengthy of a season as attainable. This crew wants playoff expertise. So that’s the place I am at proper now … end out these six, see the place we land, see if we will not creep up a spot or two within the standings, after which give them hell within the playoffs, see if we will get in an actual sequence and take it from there.”
Requested if that meant Nurse had thought-about his future being someplace aside from Toronto after this season, he stated he had not.
“No,” he stated. “I am focused on this job, for certain, and this sport, primarily. However I believe 10 years is an effective time to take a seat again and replicate a little bit bit. So I believe we’ll do that each one when the season ends.”
Nurse, 55, has been the pinnacle coach of the Raptors for the reason that begin of the 2018-19 season, and was an assistant below Dwane Casey with the franchise for 5 years earlier than that.
Since he took over, Nurse has gone 224-160 as head coach of the Raptors, main them to the 2019 NBA championship in his first season in Toronto. The crew has made the playoffs in three out of his 4 seasons.
The Raptors are seventh within the NBA in wins over that span, and second behind the Golden State Warriors for the reason that begin of the 2013-14 season.
This season, Toronto hovered round .500 by means of the primary two months of the season earlier than going 10-18 from Dec. 9 by means of Feb. 1.
Since then, nonetheless, the Raptors entered Friday’s sport having gone 15-8 – together with posting the league’s third-best defensive score over that span – to enter Friday’s motion in a tie with the Atlanta Hawks for eighth place within the Jap Convention standings. That stretch additionally coincided with Toronto buying heart Jakob Poeltl – whom the crew had despatched to the San Antonio Spurs within the Kawhi Leonard commerce in the summertime of 2018 – again from San Antonio on the deadline to provide them some wanted bulk within the paint.
“My background and coaching is lots of people coming and going, minor leagues and Europe and stuff, and mainly you bought to go in and put a superb, strong day’s work in it doesn’t matter what’s occurring, and put an incredible gameplan collectively and attempt to get the fellows to execute it and simply stick to that,” Nurse stated, when requested why issues have rotated. “You simply stick to that and stick to that and also you present the positives, keep constructive, present the educating, actually preserve displaying the educating of what we will do higher, and we have a little bit more healthy, we obtained a little bit extra linked, performed a little bit tougher, beginning to make extra photographs, all these issues add up, as a result of there’s a number of actually shut losses in there, too. So we’re not 1,000,000 miles away. So form up a number of issues, polish up a number of issues and go from there.”